LAKEWOOD -- At the Class 2A track and field state championships, Sedgwick County proved you can win a title off the track. 

“We scored everything in field events, except the one point that put us over at the end,” coach Kaleb Lanckriet said of tallying one in the 4x400 relay. “There was a four-way tie for third in High Jump, we also had a two-way tie for fourth place in another event, and also a tie in Pole Vault. What was placed in front of us we were able to capitalize on.”

It was just enough to secure the team championship for Sedgwick County (57.5 points) over Peyton (57). 

Entering the 4x400, Sedgwick held a slight advantage over Peyton, 56.5-51. Despite the Panthers finishing ahead of the Cougars, fourth to ninth place, Sedgwick County held on by half a point.

And yet, it was the field events that really put them over the top. They scored points in Long Jump, High Jump, Triple Jump, Shot Put, Discus, and Pole Vault. 

Junior Brady Mollendor was the headliner with a gold medal in Long Jump (21 feet, 10 inches), and silvers in Triple and High.

“Brady came on the scene as a freshman, shocking everyone and winning Triple Jump,” Lanckriet said. “He’s been a great leader. I love him to death.” 

Sedgwick County has tasted success before, but this weekend was a breakthrough. 

“We’ve been close a lot of times,” Lanckriet said of seeking the team crown. “But, in 2A track there’s a lot of 3A schools that come down. We’re one of the smaller 2As. This is the first for the co-op and the first for the county in 28 years.” 

So, who won that title in 1997? 

“Me and all my friends won it, same as these guys,” their coach said of Julesburg’s trophy. 

“Before the co-op, both schools had a lot of athletes all the years,” he added. “I can’t say enough about the athletes that graduated from Revere and I can’t say enough about the athletes that graduated from Julesburg. Then, we combined them and it’s been a great thing. They’ve been a very powerhouse team. The community loves it. We’ll probably go home and the fire trucks will escort us through town at probably midnight tonight.”

Lanckriet was also glad to see other area teams perform well. 

“You had Wiggins win for girls and that’s our league,” he said. “Then you had Haxtun win (1A boys), that’s another league team. Idalia was the co-champion (1A girls), so Northeastern Colorado really represented well here.” 

In other 2A action, Joe Probst of West Grand defended his 110 Hurdle crown (14.77). 

“I was chasing the state record, didn’t get it, but I’m just happy with the year,” he said. 

The senior has signed with Colorado State for track and field. But, he will miss being a multi-sport athlete. 

“I was a three-time (state) qualifier in wrestling and we made the playoffs in football three times,” Probst said. “I was a receiver. Wrestling is probably my favorite sport, but I was never as talented at that.”

He was the 2A runner-up in the 110 Hurdles as a sophomore and also earned second in the 300 Hurdles as a senior. Probst will have fond memories of high school track and of being part of his community.

“West Grand is so special to me,” he said. “I’m proud to be a Mustang.”

In other events, Eli Schuknecht (Buena Vista) was the 100 champion in 11.08, while Trey Oakley (Holyoke) won the 200 (22.08). 

Bobby Kiesewetter (Golden View Classical) swept the distance triple crown (800, 1600, 3200) with 2A state meet records in the 1600 (4:17.84) and 3200 (9:25).

Caleb Kearse of Peyton destroyed the 2A state meet record in the 400 with a blistering 48.76. 

Burlington’s Connor Halde (38.85) was the champion of the 300 Hurdles.

Kolter Mann of Cedaredge (49-2) won Shot Put.  

Holyoke earned gold in the 4x100 Relay in 43.61, while Byers won the 4x400 title in 3:23.97. 

1A Boys Track and Field: Haxtun Claims First State Title Since 1976

LAKEWOOD – Aside from the last 200 meters of the 400-meter dash, when he ran out of gas, Haxtun’s Ryland Wolff could not have asked for a better Saturday.

And that disappointing finish in the 400 couldn’t dampen his spirits.

At the state track and field championships at Jefferson County Stadium, the senior won the Class 1A 100 meters, 200 meters and helped the Bulldogs to a title in the 400-meter relay. He also finished second in the 400.

It all added up to Haxtun winning just the third boys team title in school history, the first since 1976.

“It’s just fun to do it with your brothers,” Wolff said. “Come out, run, have a great day. It’s a beautiful day out. Just to be able to do it with your brothers, it’s a different type of fun.”

Wolff, of course, was happy to win two individual titles, but didn’t hesitate when asked about the best part of the day.

“Absolutely with the team (title),” he said. “We’re one big brotherhood and it’s just so much fun doing it with them. I would trade all my medals just to do it again.”

Haxtun finished with 77.5 points, winning by nine points over second-place Kim/Branson (68.5). Plateau Valley was third, with 58 points.

The Bulldogs secured the title with the 400-meter relay win. Wolff teamed with Grant Statz, Zach Statz and Colin Cone to set a 1A state meet record time of 43.37 seconds. Eads was second (45.27).

In the 100, Wolff set a state meet record with a time of 11.04 seconds. Zach Statz was second, in 11.34. In the 200, Wolff had a time of 22.8 seconds to outlast second-place Kaeden Gebauer of Briggsdale (23.01).

“I just prayed to God, and I was like, ‘God, please let me run to the best of my abilities today,’” Wolff said. “He blessed me with the abilities that he did and it’s just an honor to be able to do it.”

Mikel Bennett of Genoa-Hugo upset Wolff’s bid for three individual titles by taking first in the 400 meters. Bennett came in as the second seed and posted a winning time of 50.44 that was nearly two seconds faster than his seed time (52.22). Wolff’s time was 51.01.

Springfield’s Parker Arbuthnot completed his sophomore season in style, cruising to the title in the 1,600 meters. He had a strong sprint during the last 200 meters to finish in 4:39.40, more than 11 seconds ahead of second-place Aidan Sherman from Merino (4:50.62).

Arbuthnot also won the 3,200 meters on Thursday and the 800 on Friday. He also helped the Longhorns place third in 1,600-meter relay on Saturday.

“It’s pretty exciting, but honestly, I look at it like God’s given me these abilities and I feel like it’s my responsibility to glorify Him in those,” he said of his big weekend. “Honestly, it’s great and all and it’s really nice to see hard work pay off, but also in the end everything’s gonna fade away; there’s only one thing left. So if this helps me to live the life that I’m supposed to, then yeah, it feels great.”

In the 110-meter hurdles, McClave sophomore Tuff Kelly posted a blistering PR of 15.40 seconds to win his first state title. Kelly knocked off Anderson Weathers of Lone Star, who was second (15.45) for the second year in a row. Defending champion Dallas Calzonetti of South Baca was fourth (16.11).

Weathers came back later in the day to win the 300-meter hurdles. The junior was also second in the 300 last year, but this year posted a PR of 41.90 to edge Kolter Cranson of Kim/Branson (41.94).

In the 1600-meter relay, Cranson helped Kim/Branson take the title in a time of 3:34.25. Cranson teamed with Acoya Bartlett, Will Doherty and David Gamez for the victory. Idalia was second, in 3:38.37.

Swink sophomore Javin Summers capped an exceptional week by taking the state title in the long jump on Saturday morning. Summers had a winning leap of 21 feet, 0.25 inches to top second-place David Gamez of Kim/Branson, who went 20-2.5. On Friday, Summers won the triple jump and placed second in the high jump.

Springfield’s Jett Konkel claimed his first state title in the shot put, posting a personal-best throw of 48 feet, 7.5 inches. The junior, who was third in the discus on Thursday, came in as the favorite in the shot put after placing sixth a year ago. Plateau Valley’s Jackson Bevan, who won the discus, was second in the shot put, at 46-4.25.

2A Boys Track and Field: Wray Pole Vaulter Joins Brother as State Champion

LAKEWOOD - Reegan Shay got to experience something his brother knows all too well. 

“I was thinking about the next bar, trying to beat my brother’s record,” the new 2A Pole Vault champion said. “My brother (Ron) has the school record. He won state at the end of his senior year (2023), so I’m following in his footsteps.”

Both Wray Eagles captured championships in their final competitions. Shay didn’t quite top his brother’s best of 14 feet, 9 inches, but a new personal record of 14-0 vaulted him to the top.  

“I’m still trying to come off the adrenaline rush,” he said. “It hasn’t settled in that I got first yet. It feels really good as a senior to end on a PR, end on a good note.”

What made it even more special was having his brother with him on Friday. 

“He’s inspired me really well to jump higher and work really hard,” Shay said. “He helped coach me a little bit my senior year. It was really cool to have him help me over that bar.”

The pole vault winner beamed when asked about his brother’s reaction when he first cleared 14-0. 

“He was ecstatic,” Shay said excitedly. “I could see him jumping over on the side. It was pretty awesome.”

It was a family affair at Jeffco Stadium as his Dad is the other vault coach.

Lake County had six of the 18 qualifiers in the event, and Matthew Wilson was the state runner-up for a second straight year. 

After shattering the 2A 3200m state meet record on Thursday, Golden View Classical’s Bobby Kiesewetter won the 800m in 1:54.84.

Cedaredge senior Jacob Bowler launched a throw of 162 feet, 7 inches to earn gold in discus. 

Holyoke won the 4x200m relay (1:30.40) one day after shattering the 2A record. They also qualified first in prelims of the 4x100m. 

1A Girls Track and Field: Sutter Keeps Merino's 3200m Streak Going

LAKEWOOD – The last few years, Kya Piel has dominated the Class 1A 3,200-meter race, winning back-to-back state titles in 2023 and 2024.

With Piel out due to injury this spring, it was someone else’s turn to step up and take over. During the Colorado state championships on Thursday at Jefferson County Stadium, that someone else was Piel’s Merino teammate Brooklyn Sutter, who finished the 1A 3,200-meter race in 12 minutes, 30.87 seconds to win and keep the Merino streak alive.

“The two-mile is definitely the hardest for me. It’s a long way,” said Sutter, who is the defending champion in the 1,600m. “But it was really fun and really good competition. The last lap is my favorite and I just get to go push myself as hard as I can. It was different without Kya. It’s been great to train with her and run with her the last few years. It was also a little bit freeing because I’m not competing against my best friend and I can kind of just go out and do my thing.”

Multiple knee surgeries have continually prevented Caliche’ Ryann Svoboda from competing in her favorite sports throughout the recent years. But now that she’s healthy, the junior is making the most of the time she has.

On Thursday, Svoboda took to the shot put circle and threw 40 feet, 1.75 inches to claim her first state title.

“Last year, I came up third and I was hoping I could do it this year, so that’s great,” Svoboda said. “I worked on it all year and I’m glad it worked out. I had a lot of help from a lot of different coaches, who were super awesome and it just clicked all together at the end. I haven’t been able to compete in a lot of sports these last few years, so it’s awesome just to be able to compete.”

In the 1A girls long jump, Idalia’s Krista Wieser won the title with a mark of 16-11.